What are advantages and disadvantages of sexual and asexual reproduction?

How does this impact their offsprings genetic make-up and how are they linked to mitosis and meiosis?
Cell Division and Heredity Unit Gerek Simonis Sexual reproduction and asexual reproduction are different ways that organisms reproduce, but they have many advantages and disadvantages and use mitosis and meiosis that impact their offsprings genetic make-up in different ways. Sexual reproduction is the most common form of reproduction and results in a greater chance for adaption by combining two different sets of genes from its parents, while asexual reproduction has one parent and doesnt have as great of a chance of being more diverse from the parent gene, because only one set of genes is passed on by its lone parent. Sexual reproduction excels over asexual reproduction in many ways but also has unique downsides. Sexual reproduction harbors the opportunity to produce organisms that are better able to keep up with changes in the environment (3). This change in genetic make-up allows for adaption in organisms and allows them to live better in their environment (3). Asexual reproduction doesnt harbor as much opportunity to evolve or adapt because it is an identical copy of its parent and receives no genetic diversity. Asexual reproduction relies on genetic mutations in order to change its genes while sexual reproduction gets a mix from its parents (2). If there happened to be a harmful disease that could kill or effect organisms that reproduce sexually then because of the mixing of genes there is a greater chance that the population would adapt and survive (3). With all of these advantages there is no way it could have a down-side right? This would be incorrect. Sexual reproduction does seem the obvious way to go but it has many components that arent ideal. One disadvantage is that sexual reproduction requires two parents and these parents must be female and male in order to produce offspring (3). Another disadvantage is that a population that reproduces sexually doesnt create as many offspring as one that reproduces asexually. The population size would be cut in half if you lived in a sexual reproducing society because you would need two parents and these parents cant reproduce whenever they want (3). Asexual reproduction overcomes sexual reproduction in some ways but also has flaws that make it inferior in others. It is a type of reproduction that only involves one parent (2). This can be ideal in some situations but extremely bad in other circumstances. Asexual reproduction only needs one parent in order to reproduce, which gives it an advantage over sexual reproduction because it doesnt have to worry about finding a mate and it can reproduce whenever it wants to (1). This allows the organisms to reproduce and multiply at great rates without exerting much time or energy. Organisms that reproduce asexually give the exact same genetic make-up to their offspring, which creates no diversity in the population (2). Given that there is no diversity and all the organisms are the same, they all act and react to things the same way which seems like a good thing. These organisms rely solely on genetic mutations to change their offsprings genetics and create diversity which means if a certain disease were to be introduced and were deadly to the organisms the disease has a much better chance of eliminating the

What are advantages and disadvantages of sexual and asexual reproduction? How does this impact their offsprings genetic make-up and how are they linked to mitosis and meiosis?
Cell Division and Heredity Unit Gerek Simonis species. Asexual reproducing organisms give the same genetics to their offspring and only have diversity if there is a genetic mutation, so if one of the organisms mutates and develops cancer then when it reproduced it would pass on the gene for cancer to every one of its offspring unless the offspring mutated again.

Figure 1. Comparison between meiosis (left) and mitosis (right)

What are advantages and disadvantages of sexual and asexual reproduction? How does this impact their offsprings genetic make-up and how are they linked to mitosis and meiosis?
Cell Division and Heredity Unit Gerek Simonis
Figure 2. Meiosis vs. Mitosis Comparison chart Sexual and Asexual reproduction are two different ways of reproducing (Figure 1). Sexual reproduction is linked with meiosis and asexual reproduction is linked with mitosis. Meiosis is a type of cellular reproduction where the numbers of chromosomes are cut in half by the separating of homologous chromosomes and produce two haploid cells (4) (Figure 2). In meiosis the chromosomes cross and mix together to produce diversity. The two haploid cells divide again to create four daughter cells, each of which poses half of the number of chromosomes of the original cells (Figure 1). This allows for each of the chromosomes to exchange information and create a new diverse cell. These final cells are either a female egg cell or a male sperm cell. Mitosis is a process of asexual reproduction where the parent cell divides into two, which creates exact models (4). These cells are called diploid cells, each with an equal number of chromosomes (4). Since there is only one parent cell there is no crossing of the chromosomes so there is no diversity (Figure 2). Mitosis only divides once and creates two diploid cells, each with exactly the same number of chromosomes as the parent. Each of these cells can divide again and again to create an unlimited amount of the same cell. The cells dont ever create sex cells because there is no need for them if the organism can create an exact copy of itself.

What are advantages and disadvantages of sexual and asexual reproduction? How does this impact their offsprings genetic make-up and how are they linked to mitosis and meiosis?
Cell Division and Heredity Unit Gerek Simonis Sexual and asexual reproductions both have their advantages and disadvantages, so one way isnt necessarily better than the other (2) (3). Sexual reproduction allows for diversity and has a greater chance to adapt to their environment, whereas asexual reproduction relies on genetic mutations in order to create diversity. Sexual reproduction is linked to meiosis, where the chromosomes cross while asexual reproduction is linked with mitosis that creates an exact copy of the parent cell which results in two identical cells (4). This being said there is not a clear choice, which one is better because the offsprings genetic make-up could be good or bad in both situations, so now its a matter of which one do you think is better and are humans better off with sexual reproduction or would it have been better if we were asexually reproducing?

(1. "What Is the Difference between Asexual and Sexual Reproduction?" What Is the Difference between Asexual and Sexual Reproduction? N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2014.

(2. "Asexual Reproduction." About.com Biology. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2014

(3. "Result Filters." National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2014

(4. "Mitosis and Meiosis." - Difference and Comparison. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2014